1. Field Of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new closure mechanism for packages. The invention is especially suited for instant adhesive packages and more particularly, the invention relates to a package for cyanoacrylates.
Cyanoacrylates can bond human skin; therefore, the adhesive package must be designed to prevent leakage. Also, because large surface areas can be bonded with minute quantities of adhesive, the package must be capable of accurately dispensing small quantities to exact locations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Although the invention relates to any package that requires a closure mechanism, the invention will be described in terms of an adhesive package.
Currently, packaging of instant adhesives is done in aluminum tubes, pens and bottles. However, in aluminum tubes, the tip often must be pierced with a pin to open the tube. This necessitates either packaging a separate pin with the tube, or asking the user to find a pin or sharp object with which to open the tube. Typically users squeeze the tube as they are trying to pierce the tip; therefore, when the opening is punctured, unwanted adhesive will squirt out. This often creates a mess and can even be dangerous depending on the type of adhesive contained in the tube. Other disadvantages of tubes include the fact that the pierced tip easily clogs with adhesive that has dried or cured, and that the user is never sure of how much adhesive is left in the container. Pens have spring valves inside their tips which clog easily and also are not capable of directly dispensing in tight locations.
Traditional bottle designs often have leakage problems, and do not accurately dispense adhesive. Also, bottles frequently clog because stray adhesive partially cures around the tip causing the cap to bond to the nozzle. This makes subsequent openings of the bottle difficult. Some bottles have designs where the cap has a built in pin which fits directly into the opening of the bottle similar to the present invention. In these designs the user typically pulls the cap directly up and off the bottle. If the pin bonds to the opening or the cap bonds to the nozzle, due to the buildup of stray adhesive, the pressure applied to pull the cap up and off can cause the pin to break or shear. Also, the user will typically squeeze the bottle while attempting to open it and when the pin disengages from the opening, unwanted adhesive is liable to spurt out. Bottles which employ a threaded cap are especially susceptible to having stray adhesive cause unwanted bonding between the elements of the bottle because the surfaces of the threads provide areas where the adhesive can accumulate. Again, if the threaded cap design employs a built in pin, when the user tries to open a bottle in which the pin has bonded to the opening, the pin will be subject to strong rotational forces that can cause the pin to shear or break.
Therefore, there is a need for an instant adhesive package that does not require a separate pin to open, discourages the bonding of the cap to the nozzle, opens easily without breaking or shearing the pin even if the pin has been bonded to the opening of the bottle or the cap bonded to the nozzle, is non-clogging, protects against leakage, shows how much adhesive is left in the package and allows for precise dispensing of the product.